Jared Leto's mysterious Mars Island retreat promised fans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend time with the Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman. The band invited fans, who call themselves the Echelon, to the event held on Obonjan, a private island off the coast of Croatia.
The luxury getaway was an immersive alcohol-free three-day retreat, which was said to have cost over $6,499 (£4.8K) to attend. It included accommodation, workshops, performances and group activities designed around creativity, self-expression and connection. Attendees were said to have swam, sunbathed, walked on the beach and engaged in yoga, all while celebrating the rock band.
According to Air Mail, which in 2025 published the accounts of sexual improprieties allegedly committed by Leto toward nine women, all of which he denied, the mostly female attendees also meditated, chanted and lounged barefoot in caftans alongside Leto.
Fans described the event as magical and inspiring as they praised the atmosphere, while they also got the chance to interact with Leto in a more personal setting. However, snaps from Mars Island quickly attracted attention online.
Comparisons to a cult
While Leto's band called it a 'spiritual retreat', the overall vibe of the festival drew widespread comparisons to a cult. Speculation reached a high after the actor was spotted in a photo standing on a cliff with his arms raised, with fans below him with their arms also out. Other images showed fans wearing white while sitting on the floor listening to Leto speaking to them while seated on a stool.
A 2019 tweet posted by Thirty Seconds to Mars read: "Yes, this is a cult," adding the hashtag "#MarsIsland." Leto was even spotted in an image wearing a shirt reading "This is a Cult" on the back.
Before Mars Island, Thirty Seconds to Mars launched an adults-only event in Malibu, California in 2015 dubbed "Camp Mars," a weekend fan retreat filled with campfires, archery, hiking, and music. Camp Mars finished in 2019, and though a 2022 Mars Island event was said to have been brewing, it seemingly never materialised. According to L'Officiel, the band leaned into the cult image by playing on journalists telling them that they have a "cult following."
Renewed scrutiny over misconduct claims
Interest in the Mars events has resurfaced amid the news that Leto has been accused by four women of sexual misconduct. In June 2025, Air Mail published accounts from nine women accusing Leto of sexual impropriety, unwanted advances, and pursuing minors.
A BBC documentary released last week amplified the crisis by featuring on-camera accounts from ten women, including four who explicitly accuse Leto of criminal sexual conduct, statutory rape, and grooming during their teenage years. One of the women says she was sexually assaulted in a motel bathroom when she was 17.
Another says the Dallas Buyers Club star threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19, and had been unexpectedly left alone with him in a hotel room. A third accuser describes how she had under-age sex with the star in California when she was 17, which would be classified as statutory rape. Leto allegedly shrugged off a conversation about the age of consent being 18 in the state.
The fourth woman claims she was groomed by the actor, accusing him of abusing his celebrity status by making repeated sexually explicit phone calls to her when she was 16, and alleges he suggested on at least one occasion that they should have sex. She was allegedly sent a non-disclosure agreement to prevent her from talking about the relationship, according to the BBC, which claims to have seen the document. She refused to sign it.
Further allegations and denial
Four further women allege they received strange and often very sexual phone calls from Leto when they were younger. Another woman claims that when she was 14, the actor instructed a security guard to take her backstage at a music festival after making a lewd comment about her chest during an autograph signing. The girl's mother confronted Leto, but he repeated the comment, it is alleged.
The allegations all come from between 2002 and 2016, when the star was in his 30s and 40s. Leto has denied the claims since the BBC documentary aired. "I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false," he said in a statement to The Associated Press.
One unnamed accuser said: "This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it."
